JERUSALEM — Israeli police on Thursday arrested a 19-yr-previous Israeli Jewish man as the first suspect in a string of bomb threats concentrating on Jewish group facilities and different establishments within the U.S., marking a possible breakthrough within the case.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld described the suspect as a hacker, however stated his motives have been nonetheless unclear. Israeli media recognized him as an American-Israeli twin citizen and stated he had been discovered unfit for obligatory service within the Israeli army.

“He’s the man who was behind the JCC threats,” Rosenfeld stated, referring to the handfuls of nameless threats phoned in to Jewish group facilities within the U.S. over the previous two months.

The FBI, which had taken half within the investigation, confirmed the arrest however had no different remark.

The Anti-Defamation League says there have been greater than one hundred fifty bomb threats towards Jewish group facilities and day faculties in 37 states and two Canadian provinces — together with facilities in Los Angeles and Irvine — since Jan. 9. These threats led to evacuations of the buildings, upset Jewish communities and raised fears of rising anti-Semitism. The threats have been accompanied by acts of vandalism on a number of Jewish cemeteries.

The threats led to criticism of President Donald Trump’s administration for not talking out quick sufficient. Final month, the White Home denounced the threats and rejected “anti-Semitic and hateful threats within the strongest phrases.”

U.S. authorities have additionally arrested a former journalist from St. Louis for allegedly threatening Jewish organizations. Juan Thompson has been indicted in New York on one rely of cyberstalking.

However Israeli police described the native man as the first suspect within the wave of threats.

Israeli police stated the suspect made dozens of calls claiming to have positioned bombs in public locations and personal corporations, inflicting panic and “vital financial injury,” and disrupting public order, together with by the hurried evacuations of quite a few public venues around the globe. The person is suspected of putting threatening telephone calls to Australia, New Zealand and in addition inside Israel.

Rosenfeld stated the person referred to as Delta Airways in February 2015 and made a false menace about explosives aboard a flight from JFK airport in New York. The menace allegedly led to an emergency touchdown.

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Rosenfeld stated the person, from the south of Israel, used superior applied sciences to masks the origin of his calls and communications to synagogues, group buildings and public venues. He stated police searched his home Thursday morning and found antennas and satellite tv for pc gear.

“He didn’t use common telephone strains. He used totally different pc techniques so he couldn’t be backtracked,” Rosenfeld stated.

After an intensive investigation in cooperation with FBI representatives who arrived in Israel, in addition to different police organizations from numerous nations, know-how was used to trace…